


The Squirrel

by torturingtaylor (itzaimster)



Category: Hanson
Genre: Car Accidents, Gen, Squirrels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-19
Updated: 2016-06-19
Packaged: 2018-07-15 23:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7243111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itzaimster/pseuds/torturingtaylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Emma (on Tumblr) with the prompt:<br/>"You swerve to avoid a squirrel. Unknown to you, the squirrel pledges a life debt to you. In your darkest hour, the squirrel arrives."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Squirrel

“No, I get that. But why does it even have to be in that setting? Take it down an octave or two!” Taylor was getting frustrated, “he’s not listening to reason, he’s too caught up in this one particular vision and there’s no room for anyone else’s input.”  
He glanced in the mirror at his sleeping 4 year old, knowing his kids were all used to various noise levels but still worried about this particular argument waking her.  
“I know, and that’s the plan,” he turned back to the road, “hopefully it’ll all blow over by-WHOA!”  
He hit the brakes and skidded to the left, a flash of brown darting to the right. His cell phone hit the floor at an angle and once he’d righted the car he felt his pulse rise as it continued to speed up.  
“What…?” he tried to look down, scared to take his eyes from the wet road again.  
The phone was caught under the accelerator, at an angle that wouldn’t let it rise again. Finding it useless to brake at the same time he tried desperately to kick it out as the road was very quickly coming to an end.  
Realising it was too late, he quickly checked on Willa over his shoulder to make sure she was still asleep before focusing on the upcoming corner. He hit the brakes and spun the wheel as they hit the turn, clenching his teeth at the pull.  
They very nearly made it. But the back tire hit the edge of the curb and the car flipped.

The first thing Taylor saw was flashing light. His vision was blurry and all he could make out were white and blue pulses.  
The first thing he felt was the cold, and the wet.  
The first things he heard were sirens and voices.  
When he felt someone lean over him in order to release his seatbelt, his eyes finally snapped open and he jumped up in his seat.  
“Sir! Calm down! Sir!”  
“Where’s my daughter?!” were the first words out of his mouth.  
“She’s fine Sir,” the EMT assured, “let’s just get you out of here.”  
Then the pain hit. His head, his neck, his back and his left leg having taken the brunt of the hit. It took him a moment to realise his door was missing and seconds later they’d pulled him from the hole. He landed on a gurney so they could quickly check him over.  
“Where is she?” he tried again, recognising that he was safe.  
“Can you feel your legs?”  
“I can feel everything, where’s my daughter?!”  
“She’s right over there,” the EMT to his right pointed toward an ambulance just behind his car.  
Taylor immediately sat up, wincing at the pain in his back and ignoring the medical officers’ protests. He could see the back of the ambulance open and Willa sitting beside an officer inside the doors. She had a blanket almost completely enveloping her and was holding something in her arms.  
“Please, lay down. We need to get you warmed up.”  
“Where does it hurt?”  
“We need to stop the bleeding before we can move him.”  
“We’re going to get you to the hospital as soon as we can we just need to get you ready.”  
“I feel okay,” his hand went to his forehead, “just some bad whiplash I think.”  
He frowned when he felt something other than water and pulled his hand back to see red. Taking note that they weren’t even tending to his head, he gulped when he realised it wasn’t the only place he was bleeding from.  
Thankfully the EMTs had ignored his estimate. Once they had the open wound on his thigh bandaged up they managed to strap him onto the gurney properly and enlist some help to carry him up to the verge. As he got closer to the ambulance he caught sight of Willa moving out of the way so he could be placed in the back.  
“Hey!” he called out to her, “are you okay baby girl?”  
“Fine Dad,” she promised, not reciprocating his outstretched arm.  
He frowned when he realised.  
“We’ve already spoken on the phone to her Mom,” the EMT who’d been watching her promised.  
“What have you got there?” Taylor tried to sit up a little, just now starting to feel dizzy.  
“Daddy can we keep him?”  
Taylor froze when he saw the squirrel nesting in her arms, flashes of memory from before the accident coming back to him.  
“I’m sorry, I thought it was a pet,” the EMT with her immediately apologised and went to take it from Willa, “it was keeping her warm until we got here.”  
“No it’s okay,” Taylor assured, indicating for her to leave it before addressing his daughter, “we’ll talk to your Mom about it, okay?”  
“We really need to get going,” one of his rescuers insisted.  
Before anyone could move, the squirrel climbed onto Willa’s shoulder as if to look onto the gurney.  
“Where are you going?” Willa reprimanded it, trying to catch its tail.  
Taylor made confused eye contact with the little creature, before it skittered down the blanket Willa still wore and disappeared into the brush.  
“Where are you going! Come back!” she made to go after it.  
Both Taylor and the EMT caught her shoulders before she could.  
“Let him go,” Taylor insisted, “he needs to go home, and we need to go see the doctors.”  
“But he needs to come home with us!”  
“I’ll take care of her,” the EMT promised, Taylor nodding his thanks as she led his miserable daughter away.  
“What an odd thing to happen,” one of his own EMTs muttered as they fitted the gurney into the sliders.  
“Yeah,” Taylor agreed aloud, left to think it over now that he knew Willa was safe.  
“Weird.”


End file.
